Building Safety Bill brings threat of fines and prison sentences
The Government is bringing forward fundamental changes in the draft Building Safety Bill with the aim to improve building and fire safety. The Bill will introduce a new Building Safety Regulator to oversee projects from design through to completion and impose tough sanctions including unlimited fines and the threat of prison sentences for breaches of Building Regulations.
The Grenfell Tower disaster exposed serious failings across the whole system of building and managing high-rise homes. The Hackitt review of building regulations and fire safety concluded that the whole system needed major reform and that residents’ safety needed to be a greater priority through the entire life cycle of a building – from design and construction, through to when people are living in their homes.
The Bill will introduce a new era of accountability, making it clear where the responsibility for managing safety risks lies throughout the design, construction and occupation of buildings in scope. There will be tougher sanctions for those that fail to meet their obligations, including up to two years in prison and unlimited fines for breaches of building regulations.
Central to ensuring the regime is effective will be a powerful new Building Safety Regulator housed within the Health and Safety Executive. It will have responsibility for implementing and enforcing the more stringent regime for higher-risk buildings and will oversee the safety and performance of all buildings.
Robert Jenrick, the secretary of state for Housing Communities and Local Government, said: “This Government has not waited for this legislation to take action and ensure residents are safe. We committed to support residents in high rise buildings with the removal of unsafe cladding and have provided £1.6 billion of funding and support to expedite this. We have also worked with industry to ensure work can continue safely throughout the Covid-19 crisis. There is no excuse, industry must act now to ensure unsafe material is removed from buildings without delay.
“Industry should also prepare for the substantial changes that are coming. Many in industry have already been working to improve standards and have shaped and influenced this Bill. Now they must accelerate this work to improve industry wide culture, competence and compliance. The new Building Safety Regulator will work closely with industry to drive a change in culture that prioritises residents and ensures their safety.”
The Building Safety Bill is unlikely to come into force before 2024 and also incorporates a provision to allow the Secretary of State to apply the new rules to other building types in the future.
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